Yasin Gungor
08 July 2025•Update: 09 July 2025
ISTANBUL
US Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff said Tuesday that he is "hopeful" that a 60-day ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will be agreed to by the week's end following progress in proximity talks.
"We had four issues, and now we're down to one after two days of proximity talks," Witkoff said at a Cabinet meeting alongside US President Donald Trump.
"So, we are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire," he added.
Witkoff said 10 living hostages and nine deceased will be released under the proposed agreement, expressing hope that "this will lead to a lasting peace in Gaza."
Trump called Gaza a "tragedy" during the meeting, and said he will discuss it "almost exclusively" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting later Tuesday.
He said that he, Netanyahu, and the "other side," referring to Hamas, want to "get it solved."
Netanyahu told reporters in Congress earlier in the day: "We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and governance capabilities, because Gaza must have a different future for our sake, for everyone's sake."
The Israeli army has killed more than 57,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
